That's interesting.. does your car have the sport package? For my 2000 540i/Sport, it was physically impossible to remove the bolt with the bottom of the shock in the way. Loosen and make a few turns, yes, but it was obstructed when trying to pull it out (I tried doing it without touching the shock, but then had to retighten and do like posted above)

Yes, I have the sport package. I should have mentioned that. 2001 540i/6 with sport package. Initially I loosened and made a few turns, and yes, with the ball joint completely in there, there won’t be enough room to remove the bolt. However, if you loosen the nut maybe half an inch or so, you give “some” room for the ball joint to move down. I actually loosened it enough to where the nut was just below “flush” with the top of the ball joint “bolt”, or stud, poking up through the knuckle. I then used my ball joint removal tool (the jaw with the threaded end from Harbor Freight everyone is mentioning) to pop out the ball joint (with a bang of course). The ball joint obviously did not completely come out, but it moved down enough to where I could continue to loosen the nut. Kept loosening, the nut fell right out, and out popped the ball joint from the knuckle, without ever having to touch the pinch bolts. I can’t imagine what a PITA it would be realigning that to keep ride height correct—I chose not to mess with that.